Kathmandu, December 28

Nepal recorded their second straight victory and advanced to the semi-finals of the fourth Women’s SAFF Championship at the Kanchenjunga Stadium in Siliguri, India today.

Two days after registering a crushing 8-0 victory over Bhutan, Nepal thrashed the Maldives 9-0. Sabitra Bhandari scored five goals to take her personal tally to 10 in two matches, while Manjali Kumari Yonjan, Sapana Lama, Hira Kumari Bhujel and Nirmala BK netted one goal each.

Bhandari put Nepal ahead in the 12th minute and added two more goals in the 28th and 39th minutes to complete her second hat-trick of the tournament. Bhandari made it 4-0 with her fourth goal in the 50th minute before Yonjan scored another goal two minutes later.

After Bhandari scored her fifth and last goal of the match in the 63rd minute, Lama added one in the 71st minute. Bhujel netted a goal in the 74th minute and BK completed the rout of hapless Maldives with a goal in the third minute of the injury time.

Nepal team head coach Kumar Thapa was happy with the win. “We are not going to stop here. We came with a target of winning the tournament and we are paving our way to that,” Thapa told the official website of All Nepal Football Association. “The 9-0 win is a convincing one but we are not going over the moon just yet. We have our feet on the grounds and we know what we are yet to face,” Thapa added. “We have one more match with us and I have used all my players except for a goalkeeper. So I know what my squad depth is and we need to make use of one extra match we have in comparison to our semi final opponent,” said Thapa.

Striker Bhandari said the team would work even harder in coming matches. “We came here for gold and we are clearly focused on that,” said Bhandari. Nepal are at the top of the Group A table with six points and are assured of the last four berth, while the Maldives are second with three points, ahead of Sri Lanka (three). Bhutan, who lost both of their matches, are at the bottom of the table. Nepal will face Sri Lanka in their last league match on Friday.